


Tribal Healing

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-04-08 10:03:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19104892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: While Jim and Blair are camping, Jim develops a sore throat





	Tribal Healing

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sentinel Thursday prompt 'heal'

Tribal Healing

by Bluewolf

On the third morning of their week camping in the Cascades, Jim woke with a sore throat, and knew that he was developing a cold.

 _Damn!_ he thought. _Couldn't it have waited for another week?_

He wouldn't really have wanted to work with a sore throat... but it would have been easy to take a couple of days off, spend them in bed...

Oh, he could easily spend the next two or three days horizontal without taking time off work, and sleep the cold off... but losing some of his seldom-taken vacation time was not something he really wanted to do.

Beside him, Blair moved a little restlessly, them opened his eyes and sat up. "Jim? What's wrong?"

"What makes you think something's wrong?" It would take another two days or so for the cold to develop and for those two days he could pretend that everything was all right.

"Jim. I'm a shaman. I know something's wrong, I'm just not quite sure what."

"It's nothing serious. I'm just starting a cold."

"Sore throat?"

"I'm... aware of it, but it's not seriously sore yet."

Blair nodded almost to himself. "Okay - unless you need to take a leak, stay put. Keep yourself warm. I won't be long." He was scrambling into his clothes as he spoke.

He ducked out of the tent, zipped the door shut again and Jim heard him heading off towards the trees.

After about half an hour, Jim heard the familiar sound of Blair lighting a fire and putting a pot of water on it to heat.

A few minutes later, Blair opened the tent door and crawled back in. Once inside he leaned back out and retrieved two mugs.

"Try this," he said as he slugged back some of the contents of his mug.

As Jim took the mug he said, "One of your herbal concoctions, Chief?"

"Well, it's not mine, exactly. It's a traditional tribal preventative for colds, and the plant involved is quite common - prunella vulgaris."

Jim sniffed the contents of the mug and said, "What's that in English?" before taking a sip. Although it was slightly bitter, It was also surprisingly pleasant, and he understood Blair's speedy consumption of his mugful.

"Self heal," Blair said. "Sometimes called 'heal all', but I've only really found it effective for minimizing the effects of a cold. Your cold will still develop, but it'll be a very mild cold; and I'm taking it early enough that I probably won't get a cold at all. And we'll have some of the leaves mixed into our salad - that'll help too."

Jim finished the contents of his mug as Blair went on. "And, of course, being in the open air will also be an advantage. Nothing like fresh air for killing off germs."

And Blair was right; it was indeed a very mild cold, and although Jim would never admit it openly, in the privacy of his own mind he decided that the self heal potion - which was all they drank for the remainder of their vacation - had indeed been a major help in minimizing the effects of the cold.


End file.
